What UPSIDER, Inc. does

UPSIDER, Inc., founded in May 2018 in Tokyo by Toru Miyagi (ex-McKinsey) and Tomonori Mizuno (ex-Uzabase/ABeam), operates an AI-driven financial platform built around a next-generation corporate card for growth-stage companies and challenger businesses. Its core technology combines an AI Credit Engine — which uses real-time bank-account transaction data across 400+ data points to issue credit decisions in seconds based on future potential rather than historical performance — with an Operational AI layer that automates more than 110 million routine tasks per year (receipt processing, journal entries, and other accounting workflows). The platform is wrapped in regulated infrastructure: PCI DSS v3.2 certified cardholder-data handling, ISMS (IS 799150), Japan Payment Service Association membership, and JIIMA electronic-bookkeeping certifications.

The commercial product set spans five consumer-facing lines — the UPSIDER corporate card, PRESIDENT CARD for premium entrepreneurs, Shiharai.com (invoice payment by credit card), UPSIDER AI Accounting (BPO accounting), and the UPSIDER BLUE DREAM Fund growth-debt franchise operated by UPSIDER Capital — plus a White-Label Card Platform that licenses UPSIDER's AI credit models, real-time payments, and receivables operations to financial institutions under their own brand, most notably through the June 2026 strategic collaboration with Mizuho Financial Group that powers 'UPSIDER BANK by MIZUHO' corporate accounts.

Revenue is generated from card interchange and transaction fees on UPSIDER, PRESIDENT CARD, and Shiharai.com volumes, from interest income and fund-management fees on UPSIDER BLUE DREAM Fund venture debt, from recurring BPO/subscription fees on UPSIDER AI Accounting, and from licensing/BPO fees for the White-Label Card Platform. Cumulative payment volume across the card business reached 250 billion JPY by December 2023 against a customer base of 35,000+ companies, and Shiharai.com reached 700 billion JPY cumulative within 2.5 years of its 2022 launch. Distribution combines self-serve digital onboarding with sales-assisted acquisition for mid-market and enterprise, alongside community-driven marketing (note.com, tech blog, Breakthrough GRID) and B2B infrastructure licensing to banks. The company operates from Roppongi (HQ), Shibuya, and Osaka.

Name

UPSIDER, Inc.

Legal name

UPSIDER Holdings, Inc.

Website

https://corp.up-sider.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

UPSIDER, Inc. is a Tokyo-based fintech operating an AI-powered corporate card, invoice payment, venture debt, and AI accounting platform serving 35,000+ growth-stage Japanese companies and challenger businesses, with a white-label card infrastructure licensed to Mizuho Financial Group.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Corporate Card Services

NAICS

Credit Card Issuing (52221), Activities Related to Credit Intermediation (5223)

SIC

Short-Term Business Credit Institutions (6153)

akta.pro primary industry

Corporate Cards & Expense Solutions (T&E, purchasing, fleet) (FSABAIAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Corporate Cards & Spend Controls (FSAGAJAF), Card Issuing & Program Management Platforms (BPAMAFAH), Issuer/Network-Led Installments (Card-Based Pay-Over-Time) (FSAGAIAB)

Keywords

• Corporate cards
• B2B payments
• Invoice financing
• AI accounting
• Venture debt

Headquarters

HQ city

Tokyo (Minato-ku, Roppongi)

HQ country

Japan

HQ region

Asia

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. UPSIDER Card (Corporate Card): AI-powered next-generation corporate card targeting growth-stage companies. Revenue generated through interchange fees on card transactions and credit extended to cardholders.
2. PRESIDENT CARD: Premium corporate card backing leaders' ambition, targeting high-growth entrepreneurs and business leaders.
3. Shiharai.com (Invoice Card Payment): Enables businesses to pay invoices by credit card. Revenue from transaction fees on invoice payments processed.
4. UPSIDER BLUE DREAM Fund (Venture Debt): Growth-debt fund providing venture debt financing to growth-stage companies. Revenue from interest income on loans and fund management fees.
5. UPSIDER AI Accounting: Fully-outsourced AI-powered accounting BPO service for founders. Revenue from subscription/BPO service fees.
6. White-Label Card Infrastructure Licensing: Licensing AI credit models, real-time payments, and receivables operations to financial institutions and partner companies. Revenue from licensing and BPO fees.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels7 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

UPSIDER provides corporate cards (the UPSIDER card and PRESIDENT CARD) for business spend management, a B2B invoice payment platform (Shiharai.com), the BLUE DREAM Fund venture debt facility, an AI-powered accounting service, an online lending product (UPSIDER Cash Boost), and a white-label card-issuing and embedded-finance platform licensed to financial institutions. The company is AI-driven throughout: AI handles credit screening, fraud detection, and invoice/bookkeeping automation, enabling instant issuance and same-day approvals.

Product overview

UPSIDER, Inc. operates as a multi-product financial platform for challenger companies, offering a portfolio of AI-powered financial services centered on corporate cards and credit. The core offering is the UPSIDER corporate card with AI-powered credit assessment, supplemented by PRESIDENT CARD for premium entrepreneurs. Supporting services include Shiharai.com (invoice payments), UPSIDER AI Accounting (outsourced accounting), and Breakthrough GRID (community). The company also operates UPSIDER Capital for lending and venture debt through the UPSIDER BLUE DREAM Fund. The White-Label Card Platform licenses the company's AI credit models, real-time payments, and card infrastructure to financial institutions and partners, evolving UPSIDER into a credit-based financial infrastructure provider. This platform-plus-modules architecture enables UPSIDER to serve as both a direct-to-market fintech and a B2B infrastructure provider.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• UPSIDER: AI-powered next-gen corporate card for growth companies
• PRESIDENT CARD
• Shiharai.com
• UPSIDER AI Accounting
• Breakthrough GRID
• UPSIDER Capital
• UPSIDER BLUE DREAM Fund
• White-Label Card Platform

Products and services

• UPSIDER (Corporate Card) AI-powered corporate credit card for Japanese businesses, providing corporate spend management with instant issuance enabled by AI-based credit scoring and fraud detection.
• PRESIDENT CARD Premium tier corporate credit card from UPSIDER, issued to qualifying business customers for higher-spend corporate use within the same AI-underwritten platform.
• Shiharai.com (Invoice Payment) B2B invoice payment and management platform that enables Japanese businesses to pay suppliers, automate invoice processing via OCR, and extend working-capital cycles.
• UPSIDER BLUE DREAM Fund (Venture Debt Fund) Venture debt fund providing non-dilutive growth financing to Japanese startups and venture-backed companies, leveraging UPSIDER's AI underwriting.
• UPSIDER AI Accounting AI-driven accounting and bookkeeping automation service for Japanese businesses, automating invoice capture, categorization, and reconciliation tied to card and AP activity.
• White-Label Card Platform (Banking-as-a-Service) White-label, licensable card-issuing and embedded-finance platform that enables partner financial institutions to issue their own AI-driven corporate cards using UPSIDER's technology stack.
• UPSIDER Cash Boost Online lending product offering short-term working-capital loans to Japanese businesses through UPSIDER's automated, AI-driven underwriting flow.

Quantifiable outcome

• AI automates 110M+ routine tasks per year
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

AI capability9 records

Feature7 records

Scale indicators14 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Brex: US-based AI-powered corporate card and spend management platform serving startups and growth-stage companies. Brex is the closest analog to UPSIDER in terms of target customer (growth-stage challengers), product (corporate cards with high limits), and value proposition (AI-driven credit decisions for non-bankable companies).
• Stripe Issuing: Card issuing platform from Stripe that allows businesses to create and manage card programs. Comparable to UPSIDER's White-Label Card Platform offering that licenses card infrastructure and credit models to financial institutions, though Stripe Issuing is more developer/API-focused.
• Ramp: US-based corporate card and spend management platform targeting SMBs and mid-market companies with automated expense management and AI-powered accounting features. Directly comparable on card issuance for businesses with spend controls and accounting automation, though more focused on broader market than UPSIDER's growth-stage niche.
• Marqeta, Inc. US-based card issuing platform that provides the underlying infrastructure for fintechs and banks to issue cards. Marqeta is comparable to UPSIDER's White-Label Card Platform business line, which licenses AI credit models and card infrastructure to financial institutions like Mizuho.

Emerging players

• Airwallex: Global B2B fintech platform offering corporate cards, cross-border payments, and expense management for growing businesses. While more cross-border focused, Airwallex competes in the same broader category of modern B2B financial infrastructure for challenger companies.
• Mercury: US-based banking and financial platform for startups offering business banking, corporate cards, and treasury management. Mercury competes with UPSIDER in serving growth-stage companies with modern financial infrastructure, though focused on banking rather than standalone card issuance.

Broad incumbents

• JCB Co., Ltd. Japan-based global payment brand and card network. As a major incumbent in the Japanese card ecosystem, JCB represents both a potential partner (network access) and competitor for UPSIDER, particularly in the corporate card and B2B payments space.
• Rakuten Card Co., Ltd. Major Japanese credit card issuer within the Rakuten ecosystem. While primarily consumer-focused, Rakuten Card also issues business cards and competes with UPSIDER in the Japanese digital corporate card space, leveraging Rakuten's broader commerce and loyalty ecosystem.
• Sumitomo Mitsui Card Co., Ltd. Japan's largest credit card issuer and a subsidiary of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group. As an established incumbent in the Japanese corporate card market, it competes directly with UPSIDER for business card customers but with vastly larger balance sheet, merchant network, and existing banking relationships.

Others

• Plaid: Financial data connectivity platform that enables applications to connect with users' bank accounts. Comparable to UPSIDER's AI Credit Engine which uses real-time bank transaction data for credit decisions, though Plaid provides the data infrastructure layer rather than making credit decisions itself.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/upsidergroup

Compliance4 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about UPSIDER, Inc.